Ressurecshun
by LimpytheLimpet
Summary: Manchee... Todd's best friend... Aaron's victim...  But what if there was a chance to ressurect him? A new science, a way of bringing him back?  This may bring back Todd's friend, but what about Todd's mother?
1. Contrapshun

Okay, this doesn't really fit anywhere in the plot of the Chaos Walking books, but I just reeeeaaaalllly wanted to see it happen. It could come after Monsters of Men, but it isn't meant to. I just wanted to use the characters and scenarios really bad. It started as a oneshot but, well, that's not what it ended up as. Please R&R!

Also, if you find any attention's that should be attenshun's please tell me. Tell me about spelling mistakes and typos aswell. But don't give out if it says direction instead of direkshun when Viola or Wilf is speaking. They can spell.

CHAPTER 1- CONTRAPSHUN

**(Todd)**

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Professor Hill asks, searching my ankshus face and equally ankshus bubbling Noise.

"Yes." I can't say any more without (shut up) weeping at the thought of (shut up) Manchee's terrified 'Todd' just before he was-

"Please just describe the process again, Mister Hill" says Viola, hearing the sorrow in my Noise, trying to stop my suffering.

Professor Hill's Noise gives an explanayshun before his voice does, but he continues thru politeness.

"It's a very complicated procedure. You see, the scientists and researchers from Violas' ships started experimenting and finding out more about Noise as soon as they heard about it."

"Uh-huh" I sniffle when (effing shut up) I finally stop bawling.

"Well, the smart chaps discovered that everything, from a dog to a log, has Noise. The confusing thing is that we can't hear it. A further discovery was then made. _Dead _people, _dead_ plants, _dead_ animals, they all still had Noise.Their Noise is active, if you can find it. It's like tuning an old radio. You have to find the specific Noise amongst all the other Noise. The big problem was tapping into this Noise stream. And so, the clever researchers built this."

Professor Hill theatrically pulls a white sheet off a huge contrapshun, covered with so many buttons and knobs and doo-dahs that it makes me dizzy. All the situashun was missing was a pompous 'Ta-da!'

"You just put on this helmet here," he picks up a helmet attatched to the contrapshun by a long squiggly wire, "And you will be connected with the Noise stream."

"And then?" the apprehenshun and (is that exitement?) in my Noise is so unbearable that Viola has to look away. I try to calm down a little.

"Well, some bright spark from the Old World, called Stephen Talking, or Stephen Stalking, or something stupid like that," His noise is a fuzzy grey while he mulls it over. "Hawking! Stephen Hawking! Anywho, this chap, when he was unfrozen of course, took a look at the whole situation, and built this machine." More theatrical pulling of white sheets, more dizzying doo-dahs, more lack of 'Ta-Da!' –ing.

"And that is...?" Viola steals the words right out of my mouth… or Noise as the case may be.

"This machine takes the Noise out of the stream, and puts it _into a body_!" Professor Hill says the last part with glee. My and Violas' faces (and Noise, in my case) are filled with 'wows' and 'ohmygods' to please Professor Hill.

Viola's face (which looks so beautiful and soft I just want to hold my hand against it, just _touch_ it to make sure it's real-) I cover my Noise with pictures of Manchee to hide my thoughts. Anywho, Viola's face is filled with confuzhun, her brow furrowed. She asks a question, which, of course, should have already occurred to me.

"If you can put Noise in a body, well, um, could you bring someone back to life?"

"No, unfortunately not. Not only is the whole process extremely expensive- we're only doing it because of Todd's considerable help with the whole Prentiss-Spackle thing- but also is only a new science. Presently, the human mind, particularly the memories it holds, is far too complicated to be transferred into a body. A dog, on the other hand, is relatively stupid and much easier to experiment on."

"_Experiment _on?" I'm staring daggers at Professor Hill, but he ignores me.

"So," he continues, "Todd will put on this helmet, find Manchee's Noise, focus on it, and will tell us. We will then hit these buttons here," he points at a few buttons in a complicated and random looking order, but Viola seems to understand. "The body of a dead dog, unfortunately not Manchee's own, as it was lost. Not even the same breed. The only one we could get was an Alsatian. Any-who, this body will be in Mister Walking's machine and Manchee's Noise will be transferred to it!" Mayor Ledger's face has a smile as wide as a peeled banana, and Viola and I sorta grin uneasily.

Something occurs to me, a bit late as usual. "Why does it have to be me hooked up to the contrapshun?"

Professor Hill replies quickly and bluntly. "I have no idea who Manchee is. Viola doesn't know him nearly as well as you do. You have to do it. You're the only one who truly knows who he is. No pressure! You'll do it easily." He says "No pressure" as if he almost means it.


	2. Connecshun

**CHAPTER 2- CONNECSHUN**

**(Todd)**

Professor Hill beams at me in expectayshun. "Well, what are you waiting for?" He says encouragingly.

I slowly and carefully take the complicated helmet-thing and put it on my worried head, having no idea if it will electrocute me or what. A red light starts flashing on the top of the helmet. I see it in my reflecshun on the polished floor.

"Well, that's not meant to happen" says the professor, showing his knowledge of machine repairs by whacking the helmet hard, almost knocking me over. I can see Viola with a grim expreshun behind Professor Hill.

The professor insistent whacking seems to do its job, and the worrying light changes to a safe-looking green.

"Okay. Now, we just change this dial to 'human/animal', as Manchee is, after all, a dog." He fiddles with a knob, which has the settings, 'human/animal', 'Spackle', 'plant' and 'other'. He points it to 'animal' and my head is instantly filled with the Noise of hundreds, thousands, millions of animals; dogs, frogs, cows, sows, bears, hares, bats, rats, everything imaginable- I can even hear a platypus thinking its tail looks sexy in the moonlight. But that small piece of Noise is soon swept away in the wave of thoughts.

I focus on Manchee, his stubby too-short tail, his endless optimism (Viola's been teaching me new cool words. My favourite is 'apocalypse'). I grit my teeth and continue with renewed determinayshun.

It's hard to find anything specific, any one voice twixt all the others in the endless mush of Noise. I'm searching and searching, but can only find moths, flies, eagles, even a few squirrels hearing new Noise and saying over and over "**Whirler Boy**, **Whirler Boy**." There are men dreaming of women's bodies, women dreaming of cutting off private parts of men's bodies, soldiers showing evil thoughts and much more, but the human Noise is hard to find in the midst of the animal Noise. Animals far outnumber humans.

Suddenly an idea bounces into my head. A _good_ one. Instead of me finding Manchee, why can't Manchee find me? So I broadcast my memories of our adventures, our friendship, and wait. And hope. And pray, but stop quite quickly, not wanting to attract the attenshun of Aaron's Noise.

And then I hear it.

"**Todd.**"

It's about as clear as swamp-water, but still…

"**Todd?**"

A bit louder now, and there's no mistaking him.

"**Todd? Manchee, Todd.**"

I cry, I laugh, I dance, I cry again. It's him. Manchee. The best effing bloody dog in the whole effing bloody New World.

"**Todd.**"


	3. Ressurecshun

**CHAPTER 3- RESSURECSHUN**

**{Viola}**

Todd's crying. He's standing in the middle of the room with the helmet on, crying and laughing. His Noise is spurting images of him hugging Manchee, of him carrying Manchee, of him putting bandages on his tail. I'm almost crying too. Professor Hill starts pressing the buttons on the machine, the ones that he had pointed out earlier. Todd had been confused by the order, but I didn't want to offend him by pointing out that they were numbered.

"Todd, focus on Manchee's Noise!" Professor Hill is trying to instruct Todd, but he's oblivious, in his own world with Manchee's Noise.

"Ah well, I supposed you're focused enough" he mutters under his breath. He presses a button that says 'INITIATE' in big bold letters. The machine beeps and a fan starts whirring.

Mr Hawking's machine is coming to life now too, and a light flashes green on top of it. The professor presses a button and the light turns orange for a few seconds, then green again.

"And, we're done!" Professor Hill's face is nervous, and his Noise is wondering if it worked.

"What?" It's a bit anti-climatic. "That's it? No blinding flash of light, no smoke venting out of the machine?" Although I'm relieved it's over, I'd still be reassured if it was a bit more… movie-esque.

Todd, as soon as he comes out of a bit of a daze, rushes over to the contraption. Without hesitation, he yanks open a door on the front of the machine and is met by an Alstatian grinning at him. He involuntarily steps back, then shakes his head as if to wake himself up. He drapes his arms around the huge dog and sobs. The dog's massive tongue licks his hair.

"Todd? Crying, Todd."

Todd looks up at the dog, wipes his eyes and smiles.

"I missed you Manchee."


	4. Realisayshun

CHAPTER 4- REALISAYSHUN

**(Todd)**

I'm lying in bed and should be filled with happiness, excitement. But I ain't. Even though Manchee's new body is blocking the blood circulayshun in my feet, even though he's alive again, even though he's safe, there's still something nagging me. No matter how much I try to focus on the thought, it still just stays right on the edge of my Noise, just out of the picture. And then the realisayshun hits me.

I'm here, lying in bed, and just down the road lies a contrapshun that would enable me to speak to someone I've never really known, but who knows me. Someone who could tell me so much about me, about my family, about her…

Someone who wrote a diary of the first days after my birth. Someone who was killed by Mayor Prentiss. Someone who left me to Ben and Cillian so that I could stay alive.

Someone who gave birth to me. Ma.

I don't know why, but I'm keeping low and ducking into side streets to avoid people. Viola's house ain't too far. It used to be where Mistress Coyle stayed when she wasn't working, but now, well, she doesn't stay there anymore. It ain't too far from where I'm staying, Mayor Ledger's old residence. You'd think the mayor's house would be fancy, but it ain't. It's boring and smells of old people.

I'm turning the corner onto Viola's street, ironically named Viola Avenue. Apparently the viola, as in the instrument, is a symbol of freedom. Huh. It don't make much sense to me.

I reach her house, then pick up a stone and throw it against the upstairs window, Viola's room. I'm glad Manchee's still at home or he would be making a racket loud enough to wake this half of New World. The stone hits the window and for a second I'm worried it'll break it, but it don't. Viola comes to the window, sees it's me and then comes down and unlocks the door.

"What are you doing here at this time of night?" She's hissing at me. They're angry words but her face shows that she's actually glad to see me. We're too busy to see each other a lot these days. She blushes when she sees in my Noise that I know her true feelings.

"I… I had an idea." For some reason I'm embarassed. It's probably the damn poo-berty that Ben says I'm going through. It just gets in the way.

"Well! Spit it out! Don't leave me in the dark."

"You know the way… um… well… that machine thingy…" I make a mess of saying it and start over.

"I ain't never spoken to my ma. I only knew her when I was too young to remember anything. And, well… That contrapshun of Professor Hill's would mean… that… I'd be able to… speak to her." I sigh when I finally get it out. My cheeks go red. The hero of Haven, wanting to talk to his mother. It makes you think I'm four.

"Todd. Be realistic. We couldn't even get into the building, never mind doing-" She stops when I jangle the keys in front of her nose. I smirk.

"Did you know that the mayor of Haven has access to all of the buildings in the city? When they're elected they're given a skeleton key at a grand ceremony. Some mayor's keep it safe in a glass case in their house." I love making Viola annoyed. Her eyebrows furrow and make her look sexy. Viola can't supress a giggle when she sees what I'm thinking.

"Okay, mister smart guy, I'll go."

"Excellent. If you could please come right this way, mim." When Viola sees me making a poor attempt of being posh she tries not to laugh, but fails. I love her laugh. It's so… so… I dunno. Special?


	5. Conversayshun

**Come on guys, review! 50 hits, not a single comment. That's just lazee.**

CHAPTER 5- RE-CONNECSHUN

**{Viola}**

The helmet is back on Todd and I can't believe I'm doing this. So far today I've watched a professor work a one of a kind machine, helped ressurect a dog, and broken into the most important labs on the planet. All in a day's work for a dashing young maiden like myself. And a semi-illiterate boy and his overgrown dog.

I'm pushing the buttons and checking the readouts. As soon as the dial is turned to human/animal, Todd's face becomes a mask of amazement as he searches the Noise stream. I can see his face is scrunched up now, that he's trying really hard to find his mother.

We sit for another hour or so, and I eventually have to crush Todd'sspirits by saying the hated words.

"Todd, we've been in here too long. We need to go now."

"Just two more minutes? Please, Viola!" He's begging now, and I eventually say "Okay."

**(Todd)**

I'm hurrying now, trying to find a trace of my mother. Ma. What I'd give to meet her…

I try the trick I did with Manchee again. I broadcast her name out through the Noise, and wait for a reply. I can't hear anything, but then-

"**Todd? Is that you?**"

I realise I recernize the voice. It's Cillian, investigating the thoughts about my Ma.

"**Todd? If you're here then… are you dead? You don't seem dead. Dead Noise has a… sorta grey veil over it, like it's covered in cobwebs. It makes it a bit quieter, a bit harder to focus on. There ain't no veil over you, boy, you're shoutin' loud enough to wake a dead cow.**" He falls silent after the 'dead' comment.

"Cillian… I'm looking for Ma. My mother. I've just… I've just always wanted to speak to her and…" I fall silent.

"**What? No 'Hello Cillian' or 'Howye doin' Cillian'? Just launch straight into your Ma? It's all right I'm just messin' with ya. Interesting subject that. You may be surprised to know that, erm, well…**" He mentally sighs. "**Well, your Ma ain't dead. Ain't dead at all. I did asked some askings and found out that she didn't die, but ran away.**"

I'm awestruck. My Ma… alive. I have to meet her.

"Any chance you know, em, where she is?"

"**Indeed I do, young Todd. An old anti-Prentiss soldier from the New Elizabeth days was talkin' to me. He sent her and four others to spread the news of Prentiss' deeds. Their group had the code-name 'Green Ding-Dong', I believe. Or maybe 'Green Sing-Song'. Hmmm…**"

"Yeah, but where is she?"

"**Ah, yes. The group were sent in a little boat across that ocean next to Haven. There's an island about twenty miles or so off the coast. Now that's nautical miles so in your land miles that would be…**"

He proceeds to tell me a million things I didn't need to know, and says his goodbyes. I thank him and take off the helmet.

**{Viola}**

Todd's eyes look tired but excited when he takes off the helmet and opens them. I turn off the machine, carefully hiding all traces that we were here, while he tells me of his conversation.

"I've gotta go, Viola, I've just gotta!"

"Go where, the bathroom?" Professor Hill walks in and gives Viola and me a heart attack. I try to hide what we'd been doing for the last hour and a half, but he sees right through my poor lies.

"So that's what you've been doing. I would tell the police about you two, breaking into a secure facility, but there are none. They were done away with when Prentiss came, and were replaced by the army. I don't trust those rifle-wielding eejits. So instead, I'll tell the committee that runs the city. They can punish you."

He looks angry, but his Noise reveals that he's just trying to scare us, that he's really not too angry but doesn't want us to break in again.

Viola apologises quickly "We're very sorry, Professor Hill." she nudges me to do likewise.

"We're very, very sorry, Mim." Viola's staring very hard at me. I remember that Mim is only meant to be used for women. The professor's looking at me with a confused expresshun on his wrinkled face.

"Sir, sorry, I meant sir!" I quickly correct my mistake.

"Very well. I believe you're sorry. Now go home and get some shut-eye. You young-'uns should have been in bed hours ago."

We leave and go our separate ways. I fall into my bed with an excitement like I've never felt before. I smile. I'm going to meet my mother. I'm going to finally meet her. Ma. The word bounces around by head. Ma. Ma. Ma, Ma, Ma, Ma. It's stirs up even more excitement and happiness every time it's said.

However, although my mind is happy and optimistic, my gut is telling me that this is the start of something big. Something important in my life. Something dangerous.


End file.
